I can still hear the boom of the tree landing on our house. It’s the only memory I can think of that has a sound attached to it.
While I can’t say that I remember everything, here are the things that stand out to us as being important afterwards.
People. Nothing else really matters. Okay, and pets.🐶🐱🤗
Shoes. You’re going to wish you’d put them on before the weather got bad.
Initial safety. Are you in a safe structure? Can you move to a safer place without being injured?
Electricity. It’s probably out, but consider anything electrical to be “hot” until proven otherwise.
Fight or flight. We all react differently to a major event, and it’s hard to predict how you’ll be.
At the precise moment when our house was hit by a tornado on the afternoon of March 3rd, all I could say was, “Oh, Lord Jesus!” over and over.
For a little Southern Baptist like me, that’s saying something!😂
Later, I thought of the verse in Romans 8 where it says:
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
Romans 8:26
I’m probably taking this verse all out of context, but I think it applies.
I don’t know why He said yes to our prayers and others did not get a yes.
Our house had significant damage. Our neighborhood isn’t recognizable.
But I am so grateful for the grace (getting something that I didn’t deserve).
And so I’m going to share what we did. And probably a little of what we should have done!
Check on your people.
When it was over, it was over.
The contrasts were incredible.
From the loudest roar to immediate silence.
From darkness in the middle of the afternoon to sunshine in the hallway.
No really, there was sunshine.
I remember how weird it was that it was so bright.😎
And so I can also be grateful that there was not a continuing storm.
I’m grateful it was the middle of the day and not the middle of the night.
But the greatest of all is that the four of us huddled in that bathtub were all okay.
Physically, medically, we had no cuts, scrapes, or bruises.
Nobody needed medical attention.
It was awesome.
Find some shoes!
This is the one part that has changed my behavior the most when there’s a tornado watch in the area….
I’m putting on the old tennis shoes!😁
Because one of the first things we realized when it was over and we knew we were all okay was that we were barefooted and there was debris everywhere.
Except Derek.
My husband is THE person to have around in a crisis. So he scouted us out pairs of shoes as he ventured out of the bathroom.
Be smart. Wear shoes when the weather is bad.
Which leads us to #3….
Are you safe now?
Check your surroundings and don’t make any sudden moves.
This really sounds overdramatic, and yet…in that moment, it’s actually kinda important.
We had a large pine tree in the rooms in front of us, the ceiling was compressed over our heads but nothing was coming through that we could see, and there was a limb sitting on the floor in Garrett’s room, directly behind us.
We just took our time and made as direct a line as we could to get outside of the house.
For us, this meant moving past the front door and going through the rest of the house and out through the garage.
That would become our main entrance for the next six months.😏
My husband is not in the construction business but has built many structures and done lots of remodeling and building projects with his daddy over the years.
I trusted him when he said it was okay for us to come through.
I have to say, though, that if he hadn’t been there…I’d probably have waited until some sort of first responder had come in!😬
To say I’m clueless about such things would be accurate.
Treat the electricity like it’s on.
That’s the rule in general, I realize.
But boy is it true here in this situation.
There were wires and sheetrock and tree sap and dust and wood and wood splinters and just stuff everywhere!
Thankfully, the power was out, so it wasn’t an issue.
But we didn’t know that initially.
So we avoided anything electrical by a long shot.
Breathe.
Once we had checked on everyone in our little circle of four…
(Thankfully Haley was safely away in Chicago–lol, safe in Chicago–you don’t see that phrase very often.)…
And we got safely out of the house…
I think it began to hit me.
You know, just all the emotions: fear, relief, panic, gratitude.
And then my mind jumped to our neighbors and our family and friends.
But my biggest concern was my youngest daughter who was right in front of me.
Understandably, very upset.
And she remained my focus for quite a while. Reassuring hugs, praying, speaking thanks to God for His protection.
In those moments, Derek and I were as stereotypical in our roles as we’ve ever been….
The nurturing mom tending to the child.
The determined dad scouting out the property to assess the damage and start making a plan (with our son, Garrett, right beside him).💛
And this wasn’t supposed to be a post about marriage.
But.
In that moment, we each did what we were put here to do.
In a crisis, we did the things.
And now that we don’t think about “the tornado” every single day, we’re back to a much more blended style of living and parenting.
Our normal.
And I’m glad. It’s definitely my preference.
But I’m so glad to know that he’s my go-to in a crisis. That he’ll keep his head when I’m an emotional mess. And that he’ll take care of us even when we think it’s the worst.
And so there are our first 5 minutes.
We were already beginning to see that an awful thing was being used to teach us some good things.
Reminds me a little bit of another time, a similar time. Read about it, here.